- Home
- Non Toxic Personal Care
- Homemade Deodorant
Homemade Deodorant
Give Homemade Deodorant a Try
There are several kinds of nontoxic deodorants that you can buy, like Primal Pit Paste and Schmidt's Deodorant. But my experience with nontoxic deodorants is that some of them worked OK, some of them gave me a rash, and some of them didn't work at all.
There's a lot of trial and error involved and these deodorants aren't cheap. At an average of $10.00 bucks a pop, it can get very expensive trying to find one that works for you.
There are also lots of recipes for homemade deodorants floating around. Because I've been using nontoxic approaches to BO for 20+ years I've tried them all. And again, some of them will work for you and some won't.
Instead of giving you a few homemade recipes where you have to buy a bunch of ingredients, then make the stuff only to find out it doesn't work for you, or gives you a rash, try the one ingredient at a time approach.
The One Ingredient at a Time Approach
Some of you will be able to control body odor with just one or 2 ingredients. My sister, for example, just uses rubbing alcohol. Some of you, like me, will need to experiment a bit with different ingredients until you find one that works for you.
Hopefully, those closest to you will be understanding during this process!
SPRAY ON DEODORANT
1. If you like to spray on your deodorant start with:
- A glass spray bottle (3-4 ounces)
- A base of either vodka (kills bacteria) or witch hazel (if you have sensitive skin -lowers the skin’s pH, which makes it impossible for bacteria to survive.)
- Spray on twice a day for a week to see if it controls your body odor.
(vodka is an alcohol called ethanol - toxic if ingested but considered safe in cosmetics).
Vodka and witch hazel never worked for me so I always made a creamy deodorant. But recently I tried this base - Dissolve ½ cup of food grade Magnesium chloride powder into ½ cup of boiling distilled water. Spray on once a day. It works great for me.
2. If you need something stronger to control odor add 10 drops of Tea Tree Oil (kills bacteria) for every ounce of vodka or witch hazel. Try it out for a week.
3. If you still need more odor control try adding one part apple cider vinegar to your spray. The best type to use is raw and organic.
CREAMY DEODORANT
1. If spray on deodorant isn't strong enough for you or you want a creamy deodorant that you rub on start with:
- A good quality coconut oil that comes in a glass jar. Just rub a pea-sized amount under your arms each day. Store in a small glass jar.
2. If you need something stronger add tea tree oil (10 drops per ounce of coconut oil) and try it out for a week.
3. The next ingredient to try would be either shea butter or my secret BO weapon - neem oil. (neem oil has a very strong smell that takes some getting used to). Mix one ounce of either or both into 2 ounces of coconut oil.
My favorite homemade deodorant is a 1/4 cup of coconut oil mixed with a good squirt of neem oil and 10 drops of tea tree oil.
4. Finally, if your homemade deodorant still needs some oomph add a couple of tablespoons of arrowroot powder or a tablespoon of baking soda. Baking soda, which is an excellent deodorizer and an ingredient in many nontoxic deodorants, can irritate your skin and cause a rash, so experiment with small amounts at first.
Making Bar Deodorant
Once you find a combo that works you can easily turn it into a solid stick type deodorant. The trick to making your homemade deodorant solid is to add beeswax. Grated beeswax is the easiest to melt and since grating beeswax is a chore try this type.
An easy recipe is one part beeswax to one part coconut oil to one part shea butter. Melt your oils and beeswax in a jar placed in a pot with two inches of warm water on low heat. If your homemade deodorant recipe includes neem, tea tree oil or baking soda, add after melting. Once melted, pour into molds.
*You may need to adjust the amount of beeswax you use depending on how hard or soft you want your deodorant.*
But please don't do what I've seen some websites suggest. Don't use plastic deodorant tubes as molds! If you've read any of my posts on plastics you known that pouring hot things into plastic containers means a lot of toxins will leach from the plastic.
It defeats the purpose of making homemade deodorant if you're going to contaminate it with endocrine disruptors like BPA and phthalates. Instead, line a muffin tin with unbleached muffin papers and pour your homemade deodorant into them to set. Store any that you don't need immediately in the fridge.
The beauty of using homemade deodorant is that you reduce toxin exposure, save money and only use ingredients that you need. Give it a try and let me know how the one ingredient at a time approach works for you.
